Donald Conway Wright (1934- ), professionally known as Don Wright, is an American
editorial cartoonist who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1966 and 1980.

Don Wright was born January 23, 1934, in Los Angeles, California. When he was a child,
his family moved across the country to Florida and he graduated from Miami Edison
High School in 1952. Wright's interest in cartoons began when he took a job as copyboy
with the
Miami News (1952-1956). Although the
News refused to move Wright to the art department, on the grounds he probably would be
drafted from that job, they did allow him to become a photographer. Wright was subsequently
drafted, served in the U.S. Army as a photographer and ultimately returned to the
Miami News as graphics editor in December 1958.

Shortly after his rejoining the
News, Wright resigned. Not wishing to lose Wright however, the
News offered, as a compromise, to publish some of his cartoons. By 1963 Wright had transformed
the original one or two cartoons per week, on local issues, into a regular appearance
on the editorial page.

Wright won his first Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1966 for his cartoon
titled
"You Mean You Were Bluffing?". He won the award again in 1980. Wright has also been
recognized with the National Headliners Club Award (1969, 1972, 1980, 1982) and is
a two-time winner of the Distinguished Service Award from Sigma Delta Chi. Wright
has won five awards from the Overseas Press Club and he received a Robert F. Kennedy
journalism award in 1983. The National Cartoonists Society named Wright the best editorial
cartoonist in 1985. His work has been collected in the books
Wright On! A Collection of Political Cartoons (1971) and
Wright Side Up (1981).

His work has been syndicated by the Washington (DC) Star Syndicates and the New York
Times Syndicate. In 1989, Wright moved to the
Palm Beach Post, where he remained until his retirement in August 2008. As of 2009 he continues to
draw cartoons distributed by Tribune Media Services.

The
Don Wright Papers are divided into two series.
Cartoons contains approximately 527 original editorial cartoons. Some cartoons are dated (1964-1965)
while the remainder are undated and from approximately 1963 to 1968.

The cartoons were drawn with ink and crayon on illustration board. Traces of pencil
are visible. The majority of the captions are typed on paper and taped onto the cartoons.
Generally, the cartoons are two sizes. The majority are approximately 11" x 14" although
there are some smaller cartoons. There are also 38 oversize cartoons with image sizes
of 8 ½" x 11 ½" mounted on board measuring 16" x 20".

Prevalent in the collection are Wright's caricatures of president Lyndon B. Johnson
and 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater as well as cartoons focused on the
Republican Party, the Vietnam War, and the civil rights movement in the American South.
Wright routinely criticized the actions of Southern segregationists and offered bold
depictions critical of the Ku Klux Klan and the anti-communist John Birch Society.
Cartoons about local issues and Florida governor Haydon Burns are also included.

Correspondence (1963-1965) contains primarily incoming letters from readers (including several children),
politicians and representatives of various publications and organizations. Typical
subjects are requests for copies of cartoons and notes of praise and criticism.

Controversial cartoons discussed in the correspondence include those related to the
John Birch Society, Barry Goldwater and the law enforcement involved in the civil
rights movement. Of particular interest are several items from readers alleging that
Wright's work supported communism as well as clippings of cartoons from the paper
on which the readers drew and/or voiced their disagreement in ink. Several letters
in this tone stemmed from a controversial cartoon (March 9, 1965) in which Wright
criticized the Alabama State Troopers for their treatment of civil rights activists.

There is also one signed letter from Barry Goldwater (1963) and a note from cartoonist
Syd Hoff.

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require
advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance
concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and
all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from
any
materials in this collection.

May 2- Nothing Will Come Between Us: Dominican Republic, democracy
May 4- [Castro under a gun marked "USMC"]: Dominican Republic, Fidel Castro, armed
forces
May 5- Gee. A Little Something For Everybody: political ideologies
May 6- [Statue of Liberty with a larger muscle]
May 10- [Dominican Revolution]: Dominican Republic, Juan Bosch
May 11- [Charles De Gaulle]: SEATO, NATO, foreign policy, U.S. Dollar, common market
May 12- Fly in the Soup: poll tax, voting rights
May 13- [Everglades National Park]: flooding
May 16- [Organization of American States as a turtle]: Lyndon B. Johnson
May 18- Relax He Doesn't Know How To Throw It Yet: nuclear weapons, China
May 19- He's An Accused Murderer: organized labor, right to work laws
May 20- Ask That One Near The End For His Autograph: Ku Klux Klan
May 23- Op Art: Lyndon B. Johnson, Dominican Republic
May 25- Can't Stand Looking At Yourself, Eh?: Congress, Bobby Baker
May 26- [Lyndon Johnson with multiple arms and hands pointing different directions]
May 27- [White Only voting booth]: voting rights, Congress
May 31- [John Lindsay holding an elephant]: Republican Party

—And Finally, Doctor, I Faced The Awful Fact That I'm the Only College Professor
who doesn't know what to do ab out Vietnam: Vietnam War
—And When I Come Home, Luci Baines, You'll Be There To Fetch My Pipe and Slippers:
Luci Baines Johnson

Gimme One Good Objection To Compulsory Unionism: New York City, transit strike,
right to work law
Go In Peace—Every Chance You Get : New Year's 1966
[The Great Debate] : Vietnam War
[The Great Leap Forward]: nuclear weapons, China

I Bet You Thought I'd Never Get Here : inflation, taxes
I Can Fly! I Can Fly! I Can— : France, NATO
I Could Just Love Him To Death! : Barry Goldwater
I Do Not Imbibe : George W. Romney, Barry Goldwater
I Only Wear It On Certain Occasions: democracy, Latin America
I Remember It Was 1966 And Somebody Said 'No Sanctuary.' Then Everything Went Blank. :
I Said, Support! Support! S-U-P-P-O-R-T! Like In George Hamilton's Mother— : Vietnam
War
I thought you'd never find me!: Supreme Court, urban voters
I Wonder What Makes It So Controversial: Bible, schools
I'll Just Shake Him A Little: Perez Jimenez, Venezuela
I'll Meet You Half Way : Fidel Castro
In Pro Football, Rookies, We Have One Basic Play : draft, armed forces
[Integration Drive]
Internal Disorder : China
It Burns A Little! : Doyle Carlton
It Used To Be So Cuddly: Indonesia, China
It's From George Wallace, Gang! We're Gonna Start A Third Party
It's Gone Berserk! : Congress, Lyndon B. Johnson
It's Great For Sticking People, Too: John Birch Society
Just When It Was Getting Brighter: Vietnam War, Lyndon B. Johnson
[Justice Douglas weds 23 year old, Sinatra weds 21 year old]

Tal, We're In This Thing Together: Haydon Burns, Miami
Taps Off Diplomacy: Fidel Castro, Lyndon B. Johnson
[Tax Assessor] : taxes
Temperature Change: Barry Goldwater, South
[Test Ban] : nuclear weapons
Thank Heaven! You're Still Looking Up!: Robert McNamara, Vietnam War
[That Rascal Castro Exports Revolution!] : Fidel Castro, Organization of American
States
They Serve The Cutest Desserts At These Things: Claude Clutch
They Smell Like Mine! : Bobby Baker, Congress
Things Could Be Worse! We Could Be Living In Philadelphia Mississippi! : Africa
This Has All The Earmarks Of A Communist Conspiracy: Nikita Khrushchev, John Birch
Society
This One Never Fails To Launch: national debt
Thrown Any Good Coups Lately?
Tiger In Your Tank: United Auto Workers (1965)
[To Lyndon From All Your Buddies in the House]: foreign aid
Tourist Attraction: St. Augustine, Florida, racism
Tsk, Tsk! I Wonder How It Happened: New York Herald Tribune, unions

Oversize 6

T (oversize mounted)

Take Me To Your Leader: Lyndon B. Johnson, farming
Those Dirty Commies! And Her With Two Busted Arms!: Soviet Union, space exploration,
Venus de Milo
Truce: Vietnam War

Wanted by FBI : Robert F. Kennedy
[Warren Commission Report ]
We're Gaining In The War—There's Just One Gap We Haven't Been Able To Close: Nguyen
Cao Ky
We're Not Allowed To Get Involved In The Internal Affairs Of A Foreign Country : Vietnam
War
We Must Be Selective About Those Who Elect Us : voting
—Weaving In And Out, Following Another Vehicle Too Closely etc. : space exploration
Weeping Dove : John F. Kennedy assassination
Well, Back To The Old Grind: left wing politics, right wing politics
[West German Bundestag]: Nazism
What Are They Trying To Do, Over—Live?: nuclear weapons, Nikita Khrushchev, Lyndon
B. Johnson
What Do You Suppose Is Causing All These Accidents?: traffic engineers
What My Party Needs Is A New Face: Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater
What Noise?: railroad industry, Farris Bryant
Wheeeeeeeeeeee! :machinists union, economy
Wheeeeee! Look at Them Ants Run For Cover: Mendel Rivers, Richard Russell
Where Do We Surrender?: poverty
—With Lots OF New, Grander-Than-Ever Gadjets: automobile industry
[Worthington Case ]
Wretched Little Devil Knows I Have A Heart Of Gold: Fidel Castro

Yeah—Things Are Really Looking Up : economy, food prices
You Haven't Seen It Have You—A Little Round Nuclear Thingamajig? : Spain
You Think Being A Cosmonaut Is Dangerous—His Old Man Writes Books!: Soviet Union
Your Skates Or Your Life (New York Transit Strike)

Oversize 4

Untitled cartoons

[Bear with picks teeth and clutches stomach while "stock market" briefcase sits at
his feet]
[A small Haydon Burns sits on the back of a donkey]
[Lyndon Johnson pulls a rabbit labeled Manila out of a hat]
[Harold Wilson pulling belt on oversized pants]
[Clayton Powell looks at self as light and shadow make his clothes look striped]
[Mao Zedong swims with casts "Indonesia" and "North Korea" on his feet]
[Lyndon Johnson dips toe into water labeled "1968"]
[Lightning strikes over the Beatles]
[Charles De Gaulle as a peace dove]
[Earth reaches out with a ladder to the moon]
[McNayr vs. Kelly in a gun fight]
[Lyndon Johnson bounces off a donkey's back]
[Lyndon Johnson stretches the U.S. dollar]
[Elephant falls through a platform labeled "civil rights"]
[Elephant in water labeled "Goldwater" looks at a "Nixon" life preserver]
[Cobwebs cover a Hanoi and U.S. peace talk table]
[Chart of high food prices and housewives boycott]
[World rests on United Nations which rests on U.S. dollar]
[Bobby Baker as a bee not caught by the Senate]
[Desert of "politics"s and a Dade County sherif's badge]
[Jacksonville and Duval County School system]
[Voter on pedestal over a crowd of candidates]
[Bryant sticks fingers in ears amidst crime in Jacksonville]
[Lyndon Johnson in Latin America outside a window with Charles De Gaulle]
[Supreme Court hand in between "religion" and "public schools" books]
[Crashed car inside a bottle]
[Nelson Rockefeller, Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon as flowers]
[Man reaches for a tax cut]
[George Wallace in a parade with a Confederate flag]
[Lyndon Johnson in a boxing ring with Nikita Khrushchev and Mao Zedong]
[Barry Goldwater as a snake charmer]
[Communist hand reaches for wheat]
[Mao Zedong blows on Southeast Asia fire while nuclear war looms]
[Two cars marked "accident rate" and "insurance rate"]
[Central Intelligence Committee and Fulbright Committee represented as figures in
dark trench coats, face masks and hats]

Oversize 6

Untitled cartoons (oversize mounted)

[Economy looks at inflation in the mirror]
[Lyndon B. Johnson on the brink]
[Charles De
Gaulle runs over NATO in a tank]
[Great Society and Viet War costs weighed on a scale by the
U.S. Capitol]
[Inter-American Peace Force Dominican]: Dominican Republic